New smooth knob-tailed gecko not eating?

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urmil

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Hi everyone!

I recently bought a smooth knob-tail at the Melb Reptile Expo on the 11/03 after what I was hoping was sufficient research. Not sure on gender but I call him a he and his name is Herbie.
I wasn't told how old he was, however I went for the biggest they had and I'm assuming it's about two months old based on when the store had its first clutches available. No weight sorry, but he's about 8cm long snout to tip.

Herbie has not eaten since I got him, so coming up on 20 days now. Initially I was reading that they may take 7-10 days to settle down before eating, but so far no luck. He is beginning to lose weight visually and I'm quite concerned at this point. I've attached pics of him and his setup.

- He's in a 45x45x45 tank, with natural sand and two main hides, 31-32C on the warm end and ambient temp (about 22C atm) on the cool end. Cool end sand is over 10cm deep and moistened every 2-3 days. He tunnels in there fine.

- I've tried woodies, but gave up because I can't fluon the front vents of the tank and they escape too fast considering he makes no attempt to eat them. Now trying black soldier fly larvae and I have crickets coming in two days. Food is the correct size (between eyes). I'm hoping crickets are more familiar to him? From what I've read now geckos tend not to go for the BSFL?

- I offer him food by tongs (he's terrified of them though) and then leave some near the warm end around 7am and 7pm. If he hasn't touched them in an hour or two I'll remove them. I've tried cutting the BSFL open and rubbing them on his mouth but that didn't work. I also spray the wall a little each day since he does lick it off and I'm worried about him getting too dehydrated.

- Other than one night a couple of days ago when he made one (!) strike at a BSFL he has shown basically no hunting behaviour - he just lets them crawl under his feet or moves away.

- He was pooping every day for the first week, but has slowed down to every 3 or 4 days now. I haven't seen him shed but I'm not expecting to.

‐ I work overnights, so I initially screwed with his day/night cycle by closing the blinds during the day. Since leaving them open and using soft light at night, he's become much more active. I wouldn't describe him as lethargic.

- The first time I've handled him is for the current photos. I leave him alone otherwise.

I know juvies should be eating practically every day - at what point does this warrant a vet checkup? Should I be considering an electrolyte/vitamin soak first? He doesn't seem impacted from what I can tell (seems hard to do without eating first) but should I be concerned about dehydration or vitamin levels?

I'm going to try crickets, whole and then squished, when they arrive, otherwise I'm just trying to avoid stressing him out further. Any other advice for getting new geckos to eat and what my next move should be?
Thank you so much!
 

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